Still Mine
by Of Darklings and Shadow Men
Summary: (sort of a sequel to Fragile) "I never thought I'd get to be here right now, wake up next to you every day, and fall asleep in your arms every night. I never thought someone like you would ever fall in love with me." (just a silly one-shot about what it's like to wake up with Julian)


_Still Mine_

**Hey! This story is a silly little one-shot I decided to write. Leave a review if you like it! :)**

**Jenny**

Sunlight streamed between the curtains and across the ceiling, turning everything to gold. I tried closing my eyes to see if I could catch the dream I'd been having before it slipped away. It was too late though and the last moments of it were already fading. I sighed and opened my eyes again. It was going to be a beautiful day, I could tell. I turned my head to peer out the window. The sky was glimmering strangely, flashing a wonderful, indescribable blue. Then the moment was gone and the sun rose higher, burning away the clouds. I smiled to myself. Then I shifted slightly, so that I could see the person sleeping next to me.

Julian had the exotic good looks of a being from another world, but a growing soft side that only came from becoming a human. He had fallen asleep on his side, with one arm wrapped around my waist. His icy white hair was delightfully tousled and his dark lashes tossed tiny shadows on his skin. I let my eyes drift from his face to the smooth curve of his neck, and then to the lean muscles of his shoulder and the arm draped over me. He was utterly beautiful and I could've watched him sleep all day. But as much as I loved to watch him sleep, I loved to watch him wake up even more.

I poked his chest. "Hey," I whispered. "Julian. Wake up."

He stirred, and I got to experience the moment right before he woke, when his arm tightened around me and he took a breath. It was that breath that always made me melt, because unlike everything else he did, it was completely involuntary. It was a secret that only I knew about.

His eyes opened slowly and he blinked at me, eyelids drooping with remembered dreams. His eyes were a misted, sleepy blue, not yet the bright indigo of a dawn sky. He looked at me and his mouth curved in the beginning of a smile.

"Hey, sweetheart," he murmured. Julian's morning voice was heartbreakingly low and sexy. If it was turned into music, it would be the rich, dark tones of a saxophone.

"Do you know what day it is?" I asked softly.

"Friday?"

"Yes, but what else?"

He closed his eyes again as sleep tried to drag him under. "Mm, February fourteenth," he mumbled.

"And do you know what that means?" I pressed, and I poked him in the chest again.

He opened his eyes, a lopsided half-smile tugging on his lips. "Valentine's Day?" he guessed teasingly.

"Yep," I answered. I trailed my fingers down his chest. "And I want us to spend the whole day together. So you have to get up."

He made a soft noise in the back of his throat and pulled me closer. "I don't think I feel like it," he told me. Playfulness danced in his eyes.

"You can't go back to sleep now," I laughed. "We just woke up."

"Which will make it easier to go back to sleep," he pointed out. He reached up and traced his fingertips over my arm.

"You are not going to sleep straight through Valentine's Day," I said.

"Watch me."

"I'll drag you right out of this bed."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Julian," I chuckled, raising an eyebrow at him, "if you don't get up, then what're you gonna do all day?"

He stroked his hand up and down my arm, then caught me around my waist and dragged me up against him. Leaning in, he lightly kissed my mouth. "Stay here," he murmured. "And hold you." His hand slid to the small of my back, warm against my skin. His voice was sending white-hot shivers down my spine. "Touch you." He moved his hand up my back and bent his head to kiss my neck. "Kiss you." I let out a tiny moan as his mouth moved down the side of my neck to my shoulder. I was coming apart in his arms. "Make you forget everything but what it's like to be with me."

I touched his face gently and brought it up next to mine again. He looked at me, a smile half-caught on his face, glacier-blue eyes full of desire. I ran my fingers through his hair, feeling how soft it was and knowing how it affected him. My fingers grazed over his cheek and brushed his bottom lip. His breath hitched. "I love you," I said very softly.

His smile widened and he placed a kiss on my forehead. "I love you too," he whispered. A touch of seriousness entered his gaze. "I never thought I'd get to be here right now, wake up next to you every day, and fall asleep in your arms every night. I never thought someone like you would ever fall in love with me."

"I fall in love with you every time I see you," I told him, and he glanced away from me in a shy kind of way that was so adorable. I slipped my arms around him and my hands moved over the steely muscles of his back. "You're everything to me."

He pressed his forehead against mine. Our eyes met, green into blue, and it was like we were the only ones left in the world. "That's all I needed to hear," he said playfully. "Now, are you gonna get up or what, because uh, it _is _Valentine's Day—"

"You were the one that didn't want to get up!" I cut him off, giving him a shove. His laugh rippled through the air.

That was how my Valentine's Day began, and every other day after that, for the rest of my life. With someone to hold me when the nights were too cold, to whisper songs in my ear while rain beat on the roof, to wake me up just to tell me he was still mine and always would be.


End file.
